Shoe and method of making shoes.



K. ENGEL.

SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING SHOES. APPLlCATION FILED JULY 24. 1915.

1 ,301, 1 1 3. Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

Fig.3.

KARL ENGEL, F ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, 1

T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF EATER/SON, NEW JERSEY, A 003 PORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SHOE AND METHOD OF MAKING SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

Application filed July 24, 1916. Serial No. 111,064.

ing Shoes, of which the following descrip- Y be utilized remain after these parts havetion, in connection with the accompanylng drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the manufacture.

of shoes and particularly to a novel construction of shoe and the method by which such shoe may be produced.

In the manufacture of shoes the uppers and various other fittings are cut out by patterns from large skins of leather. Owing to the irregular shapes of these parts of the shoes and also to the natural defects in the skins considerable ofial and small pieces of upper stock which are not large enough to been cut out. This offal and scrap leather has heretofore been treated as waste leather notwithstanding that, in many instances, the amount of stock wasted represents an appreciable loss to the manufacturer.

.The present invention aims to provide a novel shoe in which the olfal and small scraps ,of upperstock, heretofore treated as waste stock, may be utilized to form the end portion, for example the toe portion of a shoe upper. This is accomplished, as here in shown,by cuttingout a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of, upper stock and securing their adjacent edges together by Stitches in such manner as to form a continuous piece of upper stock having stifi'ened seams. When such stiffened upper stock is incorporated in the shoe it will pro; duce a shapely and serviceable toe portion for the shoe besides giving the shoe an or- V namental and distinctive appearance. In

the illustratedembodiment of the invention the adjacent side edges of the pieces are stitched together with the finishedsurface of the pieces face to face and the edges of the pieces in parallelism. This manner of securing the plurality of pieces together provides the toe portion of the upper with a convexly cupped portion having straight, vertically convexed seams when the upper is conformed to the toe of the last. Moreover, by reason of the inturned and vertically convexed seams the toe portion of the upper is permanently cupped to conform to the conveXity of the toe end of the last and is materially stiffened and tends to maintain the cupped shape imparted tofit without the necessity of incorporating a toe stiffener in the toe portion of the upper which not only increases the cost of the shoe but, in childrens shoes, is undesirable. v

Preferably, and as a further important feature of the invention, the different pieces of upper stock are cut withtheir. adjacent edges conveXed and adjacent pieces are stitched together with their conveXed edges in parallelism. This provision of conveXing the adjacent edges of the pieces necessarily results in producing both a vertical and a transverse convexity for, the toe portion of the upper whereby it readily conforms to the toe of thelast without necessitating stretching and molding the upper into the desired shape over the toe of the last as is usually done by the lasting operation. furthernoted that the convexity or pocket formed at the toe of the upper by reason of the conveXed edges of the pieces being stitched together in parallelism cooperates with the inturned vertically convexed Seams to insure permanency of shape for the toe of the upper.

A permanently cupped end portion of an It will .be'

upper is, of course, desirable also at the heel end of a shoeand thedescribed construction and method is obviously applicable to the heel end of ashoe as well.

Other objects and features will be apparent from the following description and claims when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a shoe illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention; 7

Fig. 2 is a lay-out of the separate pieces forming the toe portion of the shoe upper;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the manner of Securing together adjacent pieces of upper stock. a

In the shoe illustrated the upper 2 about the sides and heel end of the shoe is preferably of canvas or similar textile material, while the toe portion of the upper or that uppers and other findings for the shoe have been cut from the skins. Any desired nun1- her and shape of pieces may be employed to form the toe of the upper. They should, however, have a definite symmetry of shape in order to carry out a properly balanced design for the shoe. As herein shown, the leather toe portion of the shoe upper comprises two similarly shaped side pieces 4 and 6 and two triangularly shaped pieces 8 and 10 disposed between the side pieces 4 and 6. When the side pieces 4 and 6 are cut from the stock their forward or side edges 12 are cut slightly convexed as shown in Fig. 2. The central pieces 8 and 10 which preferably are of approximately the same siZe and shape have their side edges 14: adjacent to the edges 12 of the side pieces 4; and 6 also cut convexed corresponding to said edges 12. The adjacent side edges 16 of the central pieces 8 and 10 are cut convexed but the curvature of these edges is, preferably, slightly more pronounced than the curvature of the edges 14L since they are, in the shoe illustrated, disposed centrally of the toe of'the shoe where the vertical convexity of the toe of the. last is the greatest. The adjacent edges 12 and, 14.- of the pieces 4:, 6, 8 and 10 and the adj acent edges 16 of the pieces 8 and 10 are now secured together by stitches 18 to form a single piece of upper for the toe portion of the shoe.

In stitching the separate pieces together the finished surfaces 20 of the pieces are preferably held face to face as shown in Fig.

' 3, so as to provide an inturned seam when the toe of the upper is conformed to its desired shape on the last. Also, the convexed edges 12, 14 and16 of the adjacent pieces are stitched together'with the convexed-edges in parallelism and with the stitches 18 extending parallel and adjacent to said convexed edges, see Fig. 8. The meeting point of separate pieces at, 6, 8 and 10 and the canvas upper 2 at the throat of the shoe or at the lacing opening preferably is covered by a strip 22 of leather which extends rearwardly and serves as a tongue 24 for the shoe. Leather strips 26 in which lacing eyelets'are set are stitched to the sides of the upper 2 and also a counter stiffener is secured to the upper 2 in the usual manner.

The prepared shoe upper, although applicable to any method of making shoes, is herein shown and described for convenience as embodied in a stitch-down shoe made in accordance with the method disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 931,851 granted Aug. 24, 1909 on an application of Karl Engel. In accordance with the method of said formed at the marginal edge of the upper at the toe and heel. When the upper is molded the toe portion of the upper readily conforms itself to the vertical and transverse convexity of the toe form about which it is being molded since the convexed seams enable the upper to bulge out over the projecting flange and as the circumference of the upper at the periphery or marginal portion thereof is substantially less than the circumference a distance in from the periphery there is no tendency for the upper to wrinkle about the toe portion. Also, the flange can be molded without creating a fullness of upper about the curved toe of the shoe whereby a substantially level and uniform surface is provided to receive a welt. lVhen the upper f is removed from molding or shaping pressure there is no distorting reaction of the leather since the upper readily conforms to the desired curvatures imparted to it without being stretched or distorted.

After the upper has been molded it is secured to an insole located in the angle between the sides of the shoe and the outturned flange. A last is then inserted in the shoe and an outsole 30 and welt 32 secured to the shoe by stitches 34111 the usual'manner lfild, if desired, a heel 36 attached to the s oe.

It will be seen that the inturned and vertically convexed seams serve to cup the toe portion of the upper and to stiffen it so as to insure a permanency of shape for the upper without the necessity of employing a toe stiffener which in childrens shoes is undesirable. Furthermore, the vertical and transverse convexity of the upper produced by preparing the upper as above described'enables the toe portion of the upper-to maintain its shape. 1'

n the finished shoe the seams extend l substantially straight line over the toe por-f tion of the upper and give a distinctive ap pearance to thetoe of the shoe. By varying the sizes. and shapes of the pieces to form the toe portion of the upper a number of neat and attractive designs maybe made for the 7 convexed and stitched together with their convexed edges in parallelism.

2. A shoe with the toe portion of its upper formed of a series of three or more pieces of upper stock, two pieces of which are arranged in symmetrical relation to each other and having their adjacent edges convexed and stitched together with their convexed edges in parallelism and with the seams extending in the direction of the throat of the shoe.

8. A shoe with the toe portion of its upper formed of a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of upper stock having their side edges convexed and stitched together with adjacent edges in parallelism and the seams extending at substantially right angles to the periphery of the upper.

4:. A shoe with the toe portion of its upper formed of a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of upper stock having their adjacent marginal edges inturned and stitched together face to face with their edges in parallelism and the seams extending from the periphery of the upper toward the throat of the shoe.

5. A shoe with the toe portion of its upper formed of a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of upper stock provided with convexed side edges and having their adjacent marginal edges inturned and stitched together with their edges in parallelism to form vertically convexed seams extending from the periphery of the upper toward the'throat of the shoe.

6. A shoe with the toe portion of its upper formed of a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of upper stock provided with convexed side edges and having their adjacent marginal edges inturned and stitched together with adjacent edges in parallelism to form a vertically and horizontally convexed pocket at the toe end of the shoe.

7. A shoe with the toe portion of its upper formed of a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of upper stock provided with convexed side edges and having their adjacent marginal edges inturned and stitched together with adjacent edges in parallelism and with the circumference of the upper at its outer edge being less than the circumference of the upper a distance inside of the outer edge of the upper.

8. A shoe with the toe portion of its upper formed of a plurality of substantially triangularly shaped pieces of upper stock disposed side by side with their rear ends terminating at the throat of the shoe, said pieces having their adjacent edges conveyed and inturned with the edges in parallelism and being secured together by stitches extending parallel and adjacent to said edges and forming straight line seams.

9. The method of forming the end portion of a shoe upper which consists in cutting out a plurality of pieces of upper stock with their side edges convexed, arranging said pieces in symmetrical relation to each other with their adjacent convexed edges in parallelism and then securing the adjacent faces of said pieces together by stitches extending parallel to the convexed side edges.

10. The method of forming the toe portion of a shoe upper which consists in cutting out a plurality of pieces of upper stock of a length to extend their rear edges to the throat of the shoe and with their side edges convexed, arranging said pieces in symmetrical relation to each other with their adjacent convexed edges in parallelism and then securing the adjacent edges of said pieces together by sitches extending parallel and adjacent to said edges.

11. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consits in forming the toe portion of the shoe upper of a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of upper stock of a length to extend their rear edges to the throat of the shoe and provided with convexed side edges, and stitching together the adjacent edges of said pieces with their edges in parallelism.

12. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in forming the toe portion of the shoe upper of a plurality of sets of symmetrically shaped pieces of upper stock of a length to extend their rear edges to the throat of the shoe and provided with convexed side edges, positioning adjacent pieces face to face and securing adjacent pieces together in said position by stitches extending parallel and adjacent to said edges.

13. That improvement in the art of making shoes which consists in forming the toe portion of the shoe upper of a plurality of triangular shaped pieces of upper stock of a length to extend their pointed rear edges,

to the throat of the shoe and having their side edges convexed, positioning adjacent pieces with the finished surface of the leather face to face and their convexed edges in parallelism and then securing adjacent pieces together in said position by stitches extending parallel and adjacent to said edges.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

KARL ENGEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

